Purpose: To evaluate the effect of location and size of biopsy on phenotype and proliferative capacity of cultured rat conjunctival epithelial cells.
Methods: Pieces of conjunctiva were used from six areas: superior and inferior areas of bulbus, fornix, and tarsus of male Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 6). Explants were grown in RPMI 1640 with 10% fetal bovine serum on coverslips for 8 days or assayed for colony-forming efficiency (n = 9). Analysis included immunofluorescence microscopy and outgrowth measurements with ImageJ software. The Mann-Whitney test and Spearman's rank-order correlation test were used.
Results: Superior (23.9 ± 2.9-fold growth) and inferior (22.4 ± 1.2-fold growth) forniceal tissues yielded significantly more outgrowth with respect to explant size than superior bulbar (13.4 ± 1.9-fold growth; P < 0.05 and P < 0.01, respectively), inferior bulbar (13.6 ± 1.6-fold growth; P = 0.01 and P < 0.01, respectively), and inferior tarsal tissues (14.0 ± 1.3-fold growth; P = 0.01). Outgrowth size correlated positively with explant size (r(s) = 0.54; P < 0.001), whereas explant size correlated negatively with fold growth (r(s) = 0.36; P < 0.001). Superior forniceal cells displayed higher colony-forming efficiency (3.6% ± 0.9%) than superior bulbar (1.1% ± 0.3%; P < 0.05) and inferior bulbar cells (1.6% ± 0.8%; P < 0.05). Percentage of p63+ and PCNA+ cells correlated positively with explant and outgrowth size.
Conclusions: Small forniceal conjunctival explants grow the most effectively; however, for transplantation purposes, the loss of p63+ and PCNA+ cells with small explants must be considered.